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In an independence referendum that drew record numbers to the polls, voters in the South Pacific archipelago of New Caledonia voted Sunday 56 to 44 percent to remain a French territory. Sunday’s referendum marked a major milestone in an independence movement that has spanned decades. Political leaders initially agreed in 1988 to hold a vote on independence [...]

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© Wikimedia (Gage Skidmore)

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Maryland, on Friday allowed discovery to proceed in a case against President Donald Trump under the constitution’s emoluments clause, denying two motions by Trump. Trump’s legal team filed two motions in late September hoping to halt the case: a motion for an interlocutory appeal [...]

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The US District Court for the Eastern District of California declared California’s SB 50 to be unconstitutional on Thursday because it regulated the federal government’s right to sell federal property in violation of intergovernmental immunity.  The judge wrote that under the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity “a state law is invalid if it ‘regulates the United States directly or discriminates [...]

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Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled against an absolute ban on the recreational use of marijuana Wednesday, finding it unconstitutional. This ruling allows lawmakers to regulate the marijuana industry. In Mexico, the Supreme Court is required to rule five times on the same issue before the ruling becomes a binding precedent—this most recent case was the fifth [...]

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The US Supreme Court agreed Friday to review a decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on a 93-year-old World War I Memorial that has been the subject of a separation-of-church-and-state controversy since 2012. The “Peace Cross” is a 40-foot-tall Latin Cross built in 1925 in Bladensburg, Maryland, to honor 49 [...]

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A federal judge ruled Friday that the “exact match” requirement for voter identification in Georgia will not apply to Tuesday’s midterm election as it “places a severe burden” on prospective votes. US District Court Judge Eleanor Ross for the Northern District of Georgia imposed the emergency injunction to this specific issue, arising from a lawsuit [...]

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The Supreme Court of Canada ruled 7-1 on Friday that two Canadian electric companies, Hydro-Quebec and Churchill Falls Corporation, had no obligation to renegotiate a contract from 1969. Churchill Falls Corp. brought the suit, claiming that the contract should be renegotiated due to changes in the electricity market which occurred after the signing. Under the current contract, Hydro-Quebec receives [...]

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© WikiMedia (Congreso de la República del Perú)

Former Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori was ordered Wednesday to be held in preventive detention for three years by the Peruvian National Criminal Court until the corruption probe into her party and her campaign is finished. Fujimori had spent a week in police custody earlier in October before being released on appeal. The judge from the [...]

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